George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
Tue 24th Dec
https://www.masress.com/alwafd/2710391
The title of the article (Youssef Al-Raghy .. “Centamin Egypt” is close to producing 490k ounces of gold by the end of the month).
In the details of the article half way through (Yossef El-Raghy said that the total production of the Sukary project reached during the first half of 2019 about 235k ounces of gold, and by the end of this December, production will achieve 490k ounces).
Some of El-Raghy's family are making comments on their social media pages and some media comments making it clear how they think about Endeavour offer. They are saying:
Why would we merge with a company that has nothing to offer to Centamin? Their mines are just surviving. They are in a difficult financial position. They never paid dividends. They are in a debt of more than 600m dollars. They hedged more than 350k Oz, while Centamin is in an exceptionally strong financial position...
In the mean time, Mr. Sawiris has not made any comments since his official statement after the first offer news urging Centamin to communicate with Endeavour, and is refusing to make any further comments and not replying to any questions related to this subject.
Endeavour has now indicated that it will not provide the information that Centamin has requested unless and until Centamin agrees to an extension of the PUSU Deadline. Without Endeavour providing information that is core to the assessment of value, such as its financial model, Centamin cannot properly assess the proposed combination.
The Centamin Board is disappointed that despite its efforts at constructive engagement, Endeavour has repeatedly refused to engage in a proper manner.
The unsolicited approach from Endeavour has created an intense period of uncertainty for all of the Company's stakeholders. Therefore, the Board of Centamin believes that Endeavour should, without further delay, enter into substantive reciprocal due diligence.
This announcement has been made without the consent of Endeavour. The person responsible for the release of this announcement on behalf of Centamin is Josef El-Raghy, Chairman.
Cowichan.. WOW.. I can see that Mr Naguib Sawiris has retweeted your link to this BB and about the backroom deals.. Someone like him with nearly 6m followers would not do that if he was not still interested.. Would he retweet about something he failed to achieve ?!
The media in Egypt speculates that things will not stop at Centamin's rejection and that a lot could be going in the background, especially with the initial approval/welcome of the Egyptian government..
Sun 8th Dec,
Mr Youssef El-Raghy:
Production at Al-Sukary is going according to the schedule and target plans.
Aiming to achieve 255k oz in H2 to achieve a full year production of 490k oz by the end of December.
We are waiting for the details of the executive regulations of the new mining law to decide about future expansions and applying for new licences/auctions.
https://almalnews.com/%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AD%D9%89-1-3-%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B3%D8%A7/
Sorry, this is the English link to his Reuters report
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-egypt-mining/egypts-sawiris-eyes-mining-opportunities-at-home-with-new-law-idUKKCN1VG24A
Knowing about Mr Naguib Sawiris, I doubt it very much that he would leave the offer and forget about it.. He has always shown his interest to invest in the gold mining sector in Egypt and said he was just waiting for the changes to the law which are about to happen very soon.. He would know by now what the changes are and the full details of the law as the word is that it's been finalized and in the approval stage now.. He has very deep pockets, and so do his 2 brothers and his dad.. His brother "Sameh" bought today Thomas Cook in Germany.. His eldest brother "Nasef" is the richest Arab businessman.. if these people really wanted something, they would get it.. especially if it's worth it.. look at his interview with Reuters 3 months ago about his firm intention to invest in gold mining in Egypt (link below) .. what other options does he have?? To buy a licence and wait 5-7 years to produce, if he ever does?? He has already shown now what his first choice is..
You could Google (Sawiris gold mining) to see what I mean about him and his passion for gold investment..
https://ara.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idARAKCN1VG250
Hi Chas,
I'm back in Centamin now but prefer to stay quiet, especially in the current circumstances where there will be a lot of guessing going on and many info/news could be wrong/misleading..
The only thing I would comment on is the position of the Egyptian government.. I was very curious to see the position of The Egyptian government (EMRA)..Reuters mentioned that a big investor in Centamin told them that the approval of the Egyptian government was important to complete such deal.. The Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministers made quick comments on the day “welcoming” the offer.. but I think he realised his mistake later and yesterday he made an official statement stating that “ This offer is a matter between the two companies and Egypt in general welcomes any international investment”.. you can read the statement here..
http://gate.ahram.org.eg/News/2333366.aspx
Also Mr Naguib Sawiris, the man who is unofficially behind all this, has issued a statement regarding the offer through his holding company la Mancha.. read it here..
http://www.lamancha.ca/images/about-us/Press-Release/LMH_Press_Release_03-12-2019.pdf
Some of El-Raghy's family commented on social media and news links that Centamin is in a much better financial and technical position than Endeavour and hence the current offer is of no benefits to Centamin shareholders.
I will refrain from saying what I think or writing any gossips..
(P.S. Hello Cowichan.. Yes it was me.. hahaha)
General Esmat was genuinely an amazing person.. his Facebook page was a meeting point for thousands of people to discuss everything.. He devoted his life to AlSukary and you could see that on his fb page.. his last post was about AlSukary yesterday morning.. he was at work yesterday as usual and when he went home he felt unwell and died at hospital shortly after.
He had around 5k friends on Facebook and was followed by thousands more... and as Dansul mentioned would simply chat to anyone and offers advice from his life experience..
I remember once he shared one of my posts and it went viral because of his many followers and was shared like 5000 times and ended up with top people in Egypt contacting me because of the post!!
I was lucky enough to meet him a couple of times in Alexandria during my holidays and made me feel like I was talking to a lifetime friend...
RIP General..
General Esmat El-Raghy died last night..Al-Sukary PR and Security manager and brother of Samy El-Raghy Centamin founder and Youssef El-Raghy GM Egypt operation..
I knew him personally for years.. He was such a great down to earth person and loved by everyone at the mine.. Honestly I'm sad and shocked.. What a loss.. :(
I promised in my last post not to post until I was a holder, but as the discussion is about Egypt, I think I have the right to participate.
I have not read any of the links posted here, so I don't know who said what.. I will tell you exactly and very briefly what's going on..
A businessman – Mohamed Ali- used to work very closely with the Egyptian army. He was the one who built Al-Sisi presidential palaces and some other huge projects in Egypt financed by the army. He fell out with the army, claiming the army owed him hundreds of millions, and escaped to Spain. From there he started posting online videos exposing what he claimed to be corruption in the army and at higher levels. He also accused Al-Sisi of wasting billions on building palaces and luxury areas, while other projects should have taken priorities. Millions of people were watching his videos and got very angry. Things got viral when Al-Sisi addressed him at one of the press conferences, and also Wael Ghoneim “ the figure behind the first Egyptian revolution which got rid of Mubarak” got involved in the debates.
All of the sudden, M Ali put the revolution hat on and told the Egyptians enough is enough and asked them to go back to Tahrir square and all the squares. Many people supported his calls and joined demonstrations/protests last Friday in many cities.
The numbers were not huge, no where near a revolution, because many were worried about being arrested, but this was the first time people did show opposition to Al-Sisi and the idea itself made the Egyptian stock market drop around 7% over the last 2 days and at one point trading was suspended.
Will that make a change or get rid of Al-Sisi? No.. People had enough and the country can't afford another period of unrest.
I'm not posting many official links because what I told you is exactly what had happened. My family and friends are there and I have watched live videos, so I'm the reporter in this case, but if anyone wants an official link, this reuters' link will tell you in a few lines what had happened and you can google many of the things I mentioned.
https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5N26E1XX
https://www.masrawy.com/news/news_egypt/details/2019/7/6/1596204/-5-%D9%82%D9%8A%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%B1-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%86%D8%B5-%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-
The above link contains the changes to the mining law, and if you open it on your laptop there is a window with the official document included. It states clearly in the report and on page 8 of the official document (Royalties 5-20% of the value of the annual production and 1% for local development).
Cowichan, so if company pays 5% Royalties (the minimum) , you think that's it? No Tax? so Centamin pays 3% royalties and 50% of profits, while the new company pays 5% royalties and that's it? Centamin pays 50/50 instead of taxes.
I will never ignore your queries, but I have not posted any rumours or speculations as I hope I have given you enough links now to support my post. I also think it's best if I refrain from posting as I don't hold any shares at the moment and my next post will be when I'm a holder.
Hi Cowichan,
I knew I should have stayed quiet, but never mind.. Anyway, in this link you will find the criticism from the industrial union:
https://www.alborsaanews.com/2019/07/23/1227690
As to capping the royalties to 20%, this is only the royalties, so they could take up to 20% of your production, then taxes which normally range between 20-35% , unless they maintain the 50/50 profit share like Centamin, as this was not mentioned in the new law, they only mentioned royalties would be between 5-20%.. Also there is a new 1% of the production for developing the local community. So if you compare the new law to Centamin's contract, assuming keeping the same 50/50 profit share, Centamin pays 3% royalties, while under the new law 5% royalties - minimum- and 1% local development, so 6% of production - minimum - compared to 3% for Centamin.
As to your sentence (links to Centamin's unofficial response), I made it clear that this was El-Raghy brothers, and they expressed their views very clearly on the social media. Their Facebook profiles are public if anyone is interested Sami El-Raghy and Esmat Elraghy.
I never meant to hit and run, so I hope this is a good follow up to my previous post.
Regards,
Siko
Hi all,
I'm going to Egypt for a long trip on Sunday after British Airways at last resumed flights after the unexplained sudden suspension of all flights to Cairo last Saturday.
Before I go, I thought to comment on a few posts I read here recently as I will be there for a while this time..
As to the new mining law, it's a disaster.. all experts, industrial and mining organizations in Egypt are attacking it.. and the three El-Raghy brothers - Samy, Youssef and Esmat - are also attacking it and claiming it's much worse than the one before.
I will not go through the full details of the new law, but it seems like its sole purpose is to collect as much money as possible from the investors in the form of royalties and rents.. The royalty is set to a minimum of 5% of production and could go up to 20%.. while the rents are sky high.. with few other percentages going here and there ..The head of industrial union said that some current investors/projects would have to stop production as they could not afford to pay those figures.. The unions are trying to take part in the discussions of the executive regulations of the law, hoping to make things better.. but the general thoughts are that no new investors would be interested..
Centamin/Alsukary will not be affected by the changes in the law .. Centamin's current contract is valid untill around 2034, and some people say that Alsukary is a totally separate law and does not fall under the terms and condition of any mining law.
As to the court case.. absolutely nothing.. things are as we left them 2 years ago.. law 32 is with the commissioners of the SCC and they have been sitting on it since.. and there is absolutely nothing could be done until they resubmit their report to the SCC.. and as Centamin's case is linked to law 32, so there is nothing the management could do to move things.. that's the bottom line..
Wish you the best of luck, and wish me the same as I will need it..
Siko
Hi 2post,
I was planning to go back into hibernation, but I will answer your question first.
The answer is simply NO, for 3 reasons:
1-The court has delivered a ruling, and now CEY, EMRA and ESLA are appealing. Al-Fakharany's death would not cancel the first ruling because it's still a valid ruling, but the SAC has suspended its enforcement until the ruling in the appeals is delivered.
2- In the event of the death of Al-Fakharany, the law in Egypt would give his inheritors the opportunity to continue with the case.
3- Al-Fakharany is not the only one whose name is on the case. Half-way through the initial case, exactly during the administrative court sitting on 19th June 2012, two other people joined Al-Fakharany and asked the court to add their names on the case (Lawyer Mostafa Shaabaan and Amina Abd El-Naby). Both names have been added as interventionists with Al-Fakharany, and now in the commissioners report, it states in page 2:
(Appeal 2 “No.3997” filed by EMRA and appeal 3 “No.6045” filed by ESLA against H. Alfakharany, M.Shabaan and A. Abd El-Naby).
By the way, Al-Fakharany, who lives in Lebanon now, is not that old, so I would not build my hopes to win the case on him dying:)
Good luck once again..
Siko
"Who knows if things do turn out for the better then perhaps our old friend Siko will return one day?".
Hi Tibbs, I'm still here - not as a holder - and read all the posts. My absence has nothing to do with the company's or the share price performance. As you know I have been here - as a holder and a contributer - during the worst times in the company's history (first court ruling, suspending the share trade, stopping fuel supply, stopping exports, closing the mine, etc..). I have been through all this with you and what a journey it was.
As a non-holder, and judging by previous experience, I do prefer now to stick to the company's official news release so it's only one message coming to everyone.
As to being a holder again, I don't know if/when that would happen again.
All the best to you all with your investments,
Siko
http://gate.ahram.org.eg/Media/News/2017/2/26/2017-636237441861789391-178.pdf
As Centamin has already recovered the full capital expenditure, EMRA owns NOW, not at the end of the licence, the title to all fixed and movable assets.
According to the original Concession Agreement, page 53 in the above link in English:
EGSMA "EMRA" shall become the owner of all assets in connection with the operations carried out by Pharaoh "Centamin" or operating company in accordance with the following:
1- Land shall be the property of EGSMA as soon as it's purchased.
2-Title to fixed and movable assets shall be transferred from Pharaoh to EGSMA gradually as their costs are recovered by Pharaoh in accordance with the provisions of Article VII. It's understood that title to all such acquired assets through Exploitation Expenditures incurred prior to the commencement of commercial production will be transferred when the full cost of all such assets has been recovered under article VII. Likewise, title to fixed and movable assets representing capital additions acquired through Exploitation Expenditures incurred after the announcement of commercial production will be transferred when the full cost of all such assets has been fully recovered.
Yes, I was told " Good times are coming" a while ago by someone if I told you his name, your jaw would drop, but maybe some unforseen production/grade/POG issues affected that.
I'm sorry if that quote had raised your hopes and made you wait for something that did not materialise. I only posted what he told me during our chat, but it seems like I was wrong to do so. I did not know that it would be taken so seriously.
Maybe that's why I would rather stick to not posting anything from Egypt , especially when I don't hold any shares (only due to a lack of funds).
GLA